Ash and the Ditto Ash stood opposite each other, both with their fists raised. "Ready loser?" Ditto Ash said.

Ash narrowed his eyes. It was a Gary version of himself talking.

"I'll take that as a yes" Ditto said. He ran forward without warning and raised his fist, giving Ash a blow to the face.

Ash stumbled back and nearly fell over to edge, but manage to keep his balance. He looked down and sighed before looking back at the Ditto. He couldn't move much, so he couldn't surprise Ditto in any way with speed, which is what he'd usually do in this sort of situation. With his speed taken away from him after he broke his leg, he was at a huge disadvantage.

Still, he wouldn't give up and he decided to do his best in trying to attack. He moved away from the edge and stood, deciding it was best to wait for the Ditto to come to him.

Ditto Ash ran forward again and tried to give Ash another punch in the face.

Ash was ready this time and he was able to dodge the attack. He grabbed onto Ditto's arm and twisted it around.

Ditto grinned and easily escaped by using his other hand to punch Ash in the side of the head.

Ash stumbled near the edge again put this time something grabbed him before he fell off. He looked back and saw the Ditto grinning at him as it pulled him up and punched him in the back of the head, causing him to fall flat on his stomach.

"Is that all you got?" Ditto Ash said walking over beside him. He reached down and grabbed Ash's back-pack, pulling it off him. "I was expecting more of a challenge but I guess I should have known you were to weak"

Ash groaned and looked up at the Ditto. Normally he would have blasted him back with a Ho-oh powered attack, but he could feel that he had used to much against the Rapidash. He dragged his hands across the ground towards him and pushed himself onto his hands and knees, feeling a sharp pain in his broken leg.

Ditto Ash clasped both his hands together in a fist and raised them, bringing them down on the back on Ash's head.

Ash fell once more, but this time he didn't try to get up. He felt another pain in his side as Ditto's foot struck him. He rolled over and then noticed that he was already to near the edge, and fell off. He grabbed onto the side of the path with his left hand as hard as he could and looked down. It was completely black below him and he for one didn't want to know what was beyond the shadows, if there was anything apart from a bottomless pit.

Ditto Ash grinned and walked over to the side. "You shouldn't mess with things you can't defeat kid" Ditto said as he raised his foot and brought it down hard on Ash's fingers.

Ash cringed and closed his eyes tight. He felt Ditto kick his foot forward and his fingers losing their grip. He tried to make a grab for the edge with his other hand, but there was no way he could reach it.

"Ash!" Misty and Rick called.

"Pikapi!"

"Raichurai!"

"So long Ketchum" Ditto Ash said, grinning all the while.

Ash felt the wind rush past him as he fell. There was nothing he could do to stop himself from falling. He'd fallen to far to use Bayleef or Bulbasaur's Vine Whip, and Noctowl wasn't strong enough to hold him up for to long. He closed his eyes. Maybe this was it for him.

While his eyes were closed, he heard a femilier sound of a Pokéball opening. He felt his legs slam into something as he landed on something. He looked up to see a badly wounded Ho-oh, on whos back he was after landing. "Ho-oh, your ok!"

"Barely. Why didn't you let me out to help? And why does my leg hurt so much?!" Ho-oh said as it flapped it's huge wings to stop them from falling.

"Maybe because it's broken" Ash said looking at his own broken leg.

"Broken?! What do you mean broken?" Ho-oh said.

"Broken as in snapped...not working" Ash said as he looked up.

Ho-oh glared at him then groaned. "My fingers hurt"

"You don't have fingers" Ash pointed out.

Ho-oh looked at it's left wing. "Oh ya. Ok then, my wing hurts. And so does the rest of me, you have no idea"

Ash gave Ho-oh a strange look.

"Oh...right" Ho-oh said. "Well fill me in, whats going on?"

"Long story short" Ash said looking down beside Ho-oh and then back up, "I ran into a few traps and got hurt before coming into this room and meeting a Ditto that looked exactly like me. We fought and I lost"

Ho-oh sighed and closed it's eyes. It glowed slightly red and it's wounds began to disappear.

"Recover..." Ash said as he felt his strength returning and his leg healing. Why hadn't he thought of that? Pretty soon, Ash felt back to normal if not better than before. She grinned and looked at Ho-oh, who was grinning too. "Let's show that Dark Ditto what happens when it messes with us!"

Ho-oh let out a war cry and flew powerfully and quickly towards the path that lay above them.

Ash gripped onto the Ho-oh's back feathers tightly, but didn't take his eyes of the path.

The chains suddenly disappeared from around Rick, Misty, Raichu and Pikachu. The four fell to the ground put were able to stay standing. Rick angrily took out a Pokéball and threw it. "Charizard go!"

Ditto grinned and his eyes glowed red.

The Pokéball landed on the ground and the energy that would form the Pokémon began to come out, but it stopped and was sucked back in. The Pokéball shut and flew back into Rick's hand.

Rick looked at the Pokéball. "Hey, what happened?"

"Your Pokémon can't come out, there being forced back by a dark, ancient power you could never defeat" Ditto said.

Rick was about to make a run forward at the Ditto when he heard a claging noise. He looked down and noticed that shackles had appeared around his ankles, as well as his wrists. Misty was the same and Pikachu and Raichu had shackles around their stomachs and were trying to run forward too.

Ditto sighed. "This is too easy" He looked at Ash's back-pack, which he had grabbed earlier. He opened it and put his hand in. He grinned when he felt something round and smooth and pulled it out. A Dark Orb sat in his hand. He looked into the bag again and saw the other three Orbs sitting at the bottom. "Ah, you've brought me just what I wanted"

Rick pulled on the chains. "What are you talking about?"

Ditto picked up the other Dark Orbs and walked to the center of the room. "You have brought to me the only thing that I need to reserect Dark Ho-oh!" He threw the orbs up into the giant ball of black energy.

"Stop!"

"What?" Ditto turned around just in time to see Ash jump of Ho-oh and ram into him. He pushed himself up and turned to Ash, who was standing a metre in front of him. "It's too late Ketchum" He pointed to the Orb behind him. "Dark Ho-oh has already arrived"

Ash looked at the dark ball of energy in front of him. A black mist flew around the outside of it, and then he saw them open, the horrible, evil-filled, lifeless, glowing, red eyes that only belonged to one Pokémon...Dark Ho-oh.